Civilisation
“Deep underneath all the economic and political theory, philosophical frameworks and religious scripture there is something really special”Â
“What’s that?” he asked
“Actual human life”Â
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An image of the reconstructed Ziggurat of Ur in Iraq. The Ziggurat was a temple at the centre of the ancient city of Ur roughly 4,000 years ago. Further details here.
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We’ve only been building things for about 10,000 years. But we’ve been doing it all over the world, in many different and wonderful ways. Let’s dive in. Â
An image of Machu Picchu, a 15th-century Inca citadel located in southern Peru on a 2,430-meter mountain ridge. It is one of the most incredible archeological sites in the world.
Various tribal dancers from South Sudan and Ghana in Africa and South Dakota in the United States of America
The story of our peoples...
Civilization is a word that has gained a negative connotation. It is seen as an overly grandiose and colonial term that excludes.
It is not. Since the dawn of the human imagination, different groups of people at different times have created radically different ways of living. Some of the first to settle down started to build cities, temples, pyramids – glorious monuments to their kings and queens which have lasted the millennia into the modern-day. Others settled down later and created very different systems where the powerful were questioned and held to account. Others never settled down, preferring to sleep under the stars and remain connected to the Earth and to each other, a connection which continues to this day.Â
All of these civilizations have wisdom to offer. The empires generated and shared great wealth and pushed the frontiers of technology and science. But they could clearly use some greater humility and connection to each other and the Earth. Other’s commitments to equality and holding power to account are still very much works in progress. Ultimately picking sides is a last resort of the uncreative.Â
Most of these peoples’ wisdom is lost to us forever. Very little cultural material survives the trials of time. That we can know as much as we do about the Egyptians, the Sumerians, the Aztecs, and the Mayans is truly miraculous. We should treasure every morsel of those that remain.Â
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A Mongolian eagle hunter. Hunting with captured and trained wild eagles is an ancient tradition among certain Mongolian peoples which goes back thousands of years. It’s breath takingly beautiful.
The Middle East:
Africa:
South
America:
Central and
North America:
China:
South Asia and Australasia:
Human Civilisation: THe TIMELINE
3,000 BC
2,500 BC
2,000 B
1,500 BC
1,000 BC
500 BC
0 AD
500 AD
1,000 AD
1,500 AD
The English language
Your life
A group of women doing a ritual tribal dance in Rundu, Kavango, Namibia taken on 9 March 2021. Dance is a very central part of a large number of cultures, particularly in Africa.
The Sri Siva Subramaniya Temple at Nadi, Fiji (taken by D Rabbit)
The Dresden Codex, an ancient Mayan calendar used to keep track of festivals (UC Santa Barbara)
Some notes on the timeline...
Many things are apparent from even a casual glance at the above timeline.
Firstly, it makes you confront how little you know. The tendency to focus on the history of one’s own people, or of only a few groups means that we often miss entire cultures. Even worse, we often have very little context overall about how they fit together for a global narrative. So facts like “Cleopatra was born closer to the creation of the iPhone, than the building of the pyramids” seems unfathomable. Let alone that mammoths were still around when those pyramids were built.
Secondly, and more importantly, it makes you confront how small a portion of human history you and your people represent, particularly Western history. The English language has only been around for 500 years. The Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, Democracy, and our technological age are all similar. The Ancient Egyptians and Sumerians were around for 2,500 years. The Norte Chico and Indus Valley for more than 1,000. The insular and overstudied squabbling of European Kings and Queens that passes as history in many places is only the narrowest slice of what humans have been doing recently.
An image of the Wen Wu Temple in Taiwan. It is an unusual temple as it venerates both traditional Chinese gods, but also holds civil and martial affairs in the same complex. Further details here.
CiviliZation: Some points of Interest
Humans have been filling the world with wonder and beauty everywhere we’ve been for thousands of years. Let’s dive in.
The Americas
Incans, Mayans and Aztecs?
Nazca Lines: Glorious creation
The Norte Chico: An ancient and mysterious people
Africa
The Kingdom of Benin: An African jewel
Greater Zimbabwe: A city suppressed
The Zulus: Africa's fiercest warriors
Asia
Sumaria: The original ancient civilization
The Indus Valley: India's really ancient past
A bridge created from the living roots of rubber fig trees in Meghalaya, India. The Khasi and Jaintia people in the area have been creating such bridges for thousands of years. Many individuals bridges are centuries old and survive the wet environment longer than bridges built from more traditional materials. Further details here.
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